Otoe-Missouria term for "gun"

Fri Oct 11 20:21:50 UTC 2013

I don't know if Dhegiha will help, but 'shoot' in all of its meanings is kkuje and 'gun' is wahóttą, i.e., something that makes a loud characteristic noise.  In some of the Eastern Siouan languages 'gun' is the same as 'bow'.

Bob

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That makes perfect sense!  I’ll do some digging but what immediately comes to mind is our term for August which is Huma Yochiŋe (Elk Whistle).  Wistrand-Robinson (1972) has “iyóje”.  Jimm’s dictionary has several variants of this.  I’ll see what else I can find.

As far as “shoot” we have a couple.  First is the basic “kuje” (seems to match your “guuc”) but I haven’t seen that specifically used as far as shooting a gun but rather shoot in general or shooting a bow.  That isn’t to say that “kuje” by itself can’t be used to indicate shooting a gun…I just haven’t come across a specific precedent yet.  However, I do have the term “iyujį kuje” to mean shooting a gun.  Then again, I also have “ma kuje” to specifically say to shoot with an arrow.  So based on that, I would think that “kuje” would be ok by itself to indicate shooting in general in conversation but you can specify if need be.

Our term for a war club is “wirujį/wirojį” which looks to be wa- (something) + i- (with) + ru- (by hand) + ujį (hit/strike).

Thank you very much for this!

Sky Campbell, B. A.
Language Director
Otoe-Missouria Tribe
580-723-4466 ext. 111
sky at omtribe.org

From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Iren Hartmann
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 3:19 AM
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu
Subject: Re: Otoe-Missouria term for "gun"

Hi Sky,

the Hoocąk term wiižuk comes from the word žuuk (or žuužuk), which means "loud whistle". This word is used to describe the kind of sounds male elks make during mating season. Wiižuk = wa-hi-žuuk = somthing one emits a powerful whistle with.

What is the word for shoot in IOM? In Hoocąk it’s guuc and a gun may occasionally be referred to as wiiguc (something one shoots with) as well.

The Hoocąk word hojį ’hit’ can also be derived in the same way (wiirojį = wa-hi-hojį) to form a noun, but it doesn’t mean ’gun’ but rather ’bat’ as in ’baseball bat’.

Best,
Iren
________________________________
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 15:24:55 -0500
From: jgoodtracks at GMAIL.COM<mailto:jgoodtracks at GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Otoe-Missouria term for "gun"
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu<mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu>
I already sent you Hochank term = wiizhúk.

From: Campbell, Sky<mailto:sky at OMTRIBE.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2013 2:25 PM
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu<mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu>
Subject: Otoe-Missouria term for "gun"

I’m trying to figure out the breakdown of the Otoe-Missouria term for “gun” (iyujį).  My first instinct was to go with this:

i- (instrumental prefix and/or “with”) + ujį (hit/strike)

And in there, the “y” would occur for the sake of euphony thus making “iyujį” (strike/hit with).

Then I saw Dorsey’s entry with his term “i-yu-́ciⁿ” where he says:

“Were it not for the W. eq., we would be inclined to derive this word from uciⁿ, to hit, with the instrumental prefix, i-, changed making the compound i-uciⁿ, changed for euphony to iyu-ci; but the W. izhu- shows that the “y” in iyu- is radical.”

Dorsey covered what my exact thoughts were but said no because of the Hocąnk cognate and that it is “radical.”  I haven’t been able to find the Hocąk term anywhere and have no idea what he meant by “radical.”  Anyone have any ideas?  I haven’t had any luck with any related cognates that I could find.

Here are some spellings of this term I’ve come across that may help.

jútschä (Maximilian)
His forms don’t have the initial “i-“ but just jump right into the “y” sound.  He also ends with “ä” (eh/ay sound) but clearly goes with “į” with his term “strike” (uh-tschin).

E-yock-a (Major Albert Green)
Linguistic precision definitely isn’t Green’s strong point but his “ck” has me curious.

i-yo-ćeˊ (Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1862)

uyóci (Wistrand-Robinson, 1972)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sky Campbell, B. A.
Language Director
Otoe-Missouria Tribe
580-723-4466 ext. 111
sky at omtribe.org<mailto:sky at omtribe.org>

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